Industrial sewing machines are frequently provided with cutter knives which cut off uneven edges of fabric so that overlocked stitches cover the edge of one or more pieces of fabric that are sewn. The same sewing machine may be provided with a chain cutter which cuts the leading and trailing ends of thread on the sewing machine.
Apparatus for the collection and removal of cut threads and trimmed fabric from sewing machines are known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,079 issued Dec. 10, 1974, to Owen F. Dunne for DOUBLE SUCTION UNIT. See also pending application Ser. No. 861,428 filed May 9, 1986, by Christopher R. Jones and Lee S. Jones for DUAL SUCTION UNIT AND METHOD, and assigned to the same assignee as is this application.
The waste and lint collector of the present invention is intended for use with a waste removal system such as described, for example, in the aforesaid Dunne patent and in the said pending application. The waste and lint collector may also be used with other waste removal systems within the spirit of the invention.
It is known in the unpatented prior art to provide a suction inlet adjacent the cutter knives to dispose of trimmed fabric. Specifically, Universal Sewing Machine Company of 1011 E. Park, St. Louis, Mo. 63130, markets a funnel to be positioned adjacent the cutter knives of a sewing machine and attached to a pneumatic waste removal system for carrying away trimmed fabric edges. See the funnel identified at DCW-7R attached to the dual chain and waste remover assembly in Universal's AMATTCO drawing No. C-1506. See also Universal's AMATTCO drawing No. C-1486 illustrating another embodiment at DCW-8 connected to Universal's DUAL CHAIN AND WASTE REMOVER ASSEMBLY.
Universal's DCW-8 funnel has a conventionally round outwardly tapering opening intended to be located beneath the cutter knives to catch and carry away "bulky trimmings".
Universal's DCW-7R funnel does not have an outwardly tapering opening but is a round tube 11/2" in diameter and cut on the bias. It, too, is placed below the cutter knives to catch and carry away "normal trimmings".
The prior art funnels for carrying away waste trimmings are generally effective for carrying away "bulky trimmings" and "normal trimmings", but they are spaced too far from the cutter knives and are not effective for entrapping and carrying away lint generated by the action of the cutter knives in trimming fabric. Such lint has heretofore escaped to the atmosphere.